Chapter 7: Sickness and Sladeness

I can't bring myself to change the title of this chapter… it's just too… yeah. I hope others beside myself are benefitting from this overhaul. It's been fun to see my inbox once again light up with notifications of new followers! Y'all rock!

Robin was awakened twice by Raven's coughing fits, his room being so close to hers. Each time he went to her room to help her. The first time, she was too tired to do anything but go along with what he said. The second time, she spoke to him.

"Robin, you really don't have to do this. Believe me; you've done more than enough for me in the past few days. Besides, I'm used to being alone and taking care of myself…" she finished quietly, her voice hoarse from coughing.

"Nobody should have to take care of themselves all the time, Rae. Besides, I want to help you. Especially since this purple stuff isn't doing too much for you," Robin replied, pulling the blankets up around her before turning to leave the room. He suddenly whipped around and narrowed his eyes.

"Robin?" Raven questioned as she sat up. He held his finger to his lips, signaling quiet. He started walking soundlessly around the room, very slowly. Inspecting all the dark corners. Peeking into every crevice. Raven started to feel her heart rise in her throat as her eyes darted around nervously, wondering what Robin noticed. After Robin completed his circuit of the room, his gaze fell on the closet. He looked back at Raven. She nodded and sat up on her knees, hands glowing black with energy and power. He took his Bo staff out of the back pocket of his pajamas and reached towards the handle.

Robin quickly flung open the door and jumped back a bit in a battle stance. Nothing. Robin waited a few seconds before walking to the closet entrance. He stopped and his gaze penetrated the darkness, watching for movement.

Slade swung down from the closet ceiling and hit Robin squarely in the chest with his feet. Robin flew back onto Raven's bed and the two went tumbling off the other side into the wall.

"Robin? You okay?" Raven said softly as the crawled towards the bed and leaned against the side, staying hidden and preparing for another attack.

"Fine. Up for a fight?" Robin gasped, wheezing and clutching his chest.

"Uh, okay. I won't be as useful, but I can do the simple things. Can't fly though," Raven whispered.

"Good enough. C'mon, under the bed," Robin replied, still catching his breath. Slade was still standing calmly in the closet doorway, waiting. Raven followed Robin under the bed and the peeked out from under the sheets hanging over the edged to see Slade's feet a few meters in front of them.

"If you two are done playing hide and seek, I have a bird to kill," Slade stated in a calm voice, some annoyance leaking out. He started walking around the bed to where they used to be. Robin and Raven quickly crawled out the other side, but something grabbed the back of Raven's baggy black t-shirt and pulled her up. Robin rolled onto his back and stared in horror at Raven, kicking and squirming in the air being held by Slade. Robin quickly reached for a smoke disk to create a diversion, but realized that he had only pocketed his Bo staff before leaving his room.

"It's amazing how gullible you can really be. Do you really think you could fool me into thinking you were still on that side of the bed?" Slade said.

Robin drew his staff and slowly extended it to its full size. In turn, Slade took out a small knife. Raven's eyes grew wide in terror and she quickly swung out from Slade and used her momentum to slam into him with her feet. He dropped her to the floor and stumbled back onto the ground, gasping for breath. Raven scrambled back towards Robin before Slade recovered. Robin twirled his staff before running at Slade. "Raven call the others on your communicator!" Robin called, dodging a punch.

Why did we decide to be on different floors? Robin thought with dismay. Slade flipped back, out of reach for the moment, and held out a fist. He opened it and Raven's shattered communicator fell to carpet. "Oh crap," Robin said in a tight voice. He glanced towards Raven to see her shut her eyes tightly. A minute later, the alarm started blaring. Slade looked around and ran into the hall. Robin ran after him, but Slade was gone by the time he reached the door. Raven slowly walked out and leaned against the wall, exhausted from setting off the alarm and cheeks once again flushed with fever.

"As much as you need to sleep and restore your energy, come with me to meet the rest. We need to tell them about Slade and what's going on." Raven nodded and slowly walked up to him.

"My head…is spinning. Just moving fast, like in there, is killer," she said, using the wall for support.

"Need any help?" Robin asked stepping towards her. She waved him off.

"Just give me a second," she said. "Whatever, let's go." She came off the wall and started to walk, head held up as she took deliberate, steady steps. Only her clenched fists revealed she was having any difficulty. Robin shook his head.

"Stubborn," he muttered, reaching her side. She shrugged and they slowly made their way to the elevator.

The other titans were already assembled in the living room. They turned their heads as the door slid open to reveal the two birds. Robin looked down. They were the only two still in pajamas.

"Friend Robin, why is it that you trash the time by retrieving friend Raven when she is too sick to do battle?" Starfire asked.

"That's waste. Slade's back and he's trying to finish what he started on the boat. He just attacked us in Raven's room. He broke her compact, too." Robin set the shards of yellow and black plastic on the coffee table as Raven sat down on the couch, head in her hands.

"And why were you in friend Raven's dwelling friend Robin?" Starfire asked with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"I was checking on her…" Robin said, looking at Starfire with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh."

"Anyway, so, what are we going to do? I mean, if we jail him, he escapes." Beast Boy voiced aloud.

"Is he still here?" Starfire whispered, scooting closer to Robin. Everyone immediately started looking around the room nervously, and began moving closer to each other on the couch, thoroughly creeped out and scared at the idea of Slade still in their house.

"He ran out of Raven's room. I don't know if he's still here," Robin said quietly.

"Why wouldn't I be? I always finish what I start. But it appears that your precious Raven is still breathing. We can't have that now, can we?" Slade said, appearing in the doorway.

"I don't know why you want Raven dead, man, but you are SO going down." Cyborg shouted, charging his sonic cannon.

"She is essential to you little team. Were you not paying attention this afternoon?" Slade said delicately with a small smile under his mask. Robin sensed Slade was about to say something about him and Raven, and a knot started to form in his already twisted up stomach. "Raven is also essential to Rob-"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" Robin charged at Slade with his Bo staff raised above his head and brought it crashing down on Slade. Slade jumped back in pain and kicked Robin's feet out from under him and was about to step on him when a blue light blasted him out into the hall.

"That's for messing with Rae. THIS is for messing with the rest of us!" Cyborg shouted, hitting Slade with an even stronger blast. The rest of the team unleashed a barrage of assaults. Slade didn't have time to dodge Starfire's eyebeams and starbolts, or Beast Boy's teeth and claws. The attacks kept beating Slade further and further into the hallway wall. Raven threw one final chair at him, and then the Titans were all thrown back by a giant explosion.

"What the hell?" Cyborg yelled as they all jumped up from the floor, still poised for an attack. Robin crept towards the smoking hallway. He fanned some of the smoke away, coughing slightly.

"DAMMIT!" Robin shouted in frustration. He threw the mangled body of a robot out in front of his friends. "He'd be dead! He'd be gone! But he sent a robot!" Robin gritted his teeth, pacing pack and forth across the opening to the hall.

"Ah man! There'd be no more Slade!" Cyborg slammed a fist into his hand.

"DUDE!" Beast Boy said frustrated.

"Clorbag varblernelk tchiscow sinverwern!" Starfire declared loudly. Everyone just stared at her before returning their attention to the robot on the ground. Robin kicked it.

"Ah, youth. Thinking of the impossible. Of course I'm not dead. It will take much more than that to get rid of me…" A silky voice cut through the five voices as Slade's face appeared on the giant screen. "Do you think I would stick around after Robin saw me in Raven's room? That would be foolish. I sent a robot. And now I bid you farewell, Titans. I shall see you soon." The transmission clicked off.

"The sewers," Raven said in a scratchy voice.

"How…?" Robin started.

"Look, you can see Jump City Sewage System in the background on that plate." Raven pointed to the last frame from Slade's transmission.

"He won't try again this soon," Robin said. "Take the day to rest, team, but stay alert. If anybody wants to go back to bed, I don't blame you." The sun was beginning to rise. Beast Boy yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"It's not even nine. I'm going back to bed," the green boy stated, yawning again.

"Just try and be up by lunch!" Robin called after the exiting teen.

"I'm going to recharge for a bit. See y'all at lunch," Cyborg said as he checked his arm panel. Starfire began floating after them, but quickly turned back around.

"I, too, will return to my place of slumber! Wondrous dreams dear friend!" she squealed, giving Robin a giant hug. Raven held back a laugh as she watched Robin struggle against Starfire's alien strength.

"Star…fire…Air…"

"Oh, excuse, friend! Pleasant schlorvax!" Starfire skipped off into the hallway, tossing a wave behind her shoulder at the remaining Titans.

"She really needs to just calm down," Robin sighed.

"She always does that, Robin," came Raven's reply.

"Oh. Right." He shrugged and moved over to where Raven sat on the couch, legs tucked under the big black shirt and arms folded around her body.

"He was in my room." Raven's voice trembled a bit and she ducked her head further into her arms. Robin placed an arm around her shoulders as he leaned back on the couch, legs propped up on the coffee table.

"I'm sorry, Raven," he responded, not knowing what else to say.

"I think I'll just stay in the living room and read."

"I'll stay with you," Robin offered, turning to look at her. She met his gaze, gratitude in her wide eyes.

"Thank you."

Robin squeezed her shoulder, knowing this was as close to Raven admitting she was scared or needed help as he would get. Raven levitated two of her paperbacks over to where they sat and handed one of them to Robin. A crime novel, by the look of it, he thought as he turned it over in his hands. Shrugging, Robin cracked it open and began to read while Raven did the same with hers. Within thirty minutes, though, both were sound asleep, slumped sideways on the couch with Raven's head propped on Robin's chest. His arm had slid down to her waist, his other dangling off the couch along with one of his feet.

Starfire floated in through the door around 10:00, wide-awake and searching for a friend to hang out with.

"Friend Robin?" she called softly, going towards the television. Seeing Raven and Robin, she took in a deep breath, ready to yell and throw a starbolt or two. Jealousy rose up in her throat, filling her mouth with a sour taste as she raised a glowing hand. She paused as Raven coughed loudly in her sleep.

Robin shifted in his sleep, arm tightening its grip around the petite sorceress next to him on the couch. He turned his head, chin knocking against the top of her head, and he smiled. Starfire felt her anger rush out of her like a doused fire, and she lowered her hand. There was nothing left but a great, empty sense of loss, and as she tossed a blanket across the two, tears began to fall, and she floated out of the room back to her bed.

I'M SORRY I just can't make Starfire the same terrible person I made her back in 2005. For anyone rereading this, if I haven't finished redoing the next few chapters, it's going to be character whiplash. To all those who hate Starfire and enjoy Star-bashing, sorry to upset you! Cheers.